Longtime pot grower grateful to voters

'I don't want to have to worry about getting arrested again,' patient says.

'I don't want to have to worry about getting arrested again,' patient says.

November 19, 2008

BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) -- For nearly three decades, Larry Myers has used marijuana to relieve symptoms caused by multiple sclerosis. He is grateful that doing so will no longer make him a criminal -- at least under state law. Michigan voters approved a ballot initiative Nov. 4 that removes state penalties for registered patients to buy, grow and use small amounts of marijuana. The measure does not affect federal law that makes possessing marijuana for any purpose illegal. "I think it's great that the voters of Michigan passed" the initiative, Myers told The Bay City Times for a recent story. "I don't want to have to worry about getting arrested again." Myers was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1980, after he woke up to numbness in his limbs one morning while on his honeymoon in California. Since then, the 55-year-old Pinconning, Mich., man has found relief in marijuana. The only thing that helps calm the spasms the disease causes is puffing on a pipeload of pot. He said his doctor is aware of his use and advised him to continue using it if it provides relief from his symptoms. Myers twice has pleaded guilty to marijuana-related crimes in Bay County. In 1987, police took the media along for a raid of the home he lived in at the time. They found marijuana plants growing in a semi-trailer in his backyard. Myers eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge and served probation but no jail time. Although grateful for the successful ballot initiative, he wishes it had included provisions to get prescriptions written and filled. "As someone who's got some experience growing marijuana, I'll tell you it's not such an easy thing," Myers said, "especially for a person who's dying of cancer or something."